1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for incinerating used oil sorbent pads, oil socks and other materials used for cleaning up oil spills. The device comprises a steel drum lid and a flue which includes a dome screen, with the lid adapted to be mounted on and secured to existing waste containers thereby enabling waste to be burned and disposed of in situ.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several varieties of cyclone furnaces and cyclonic incinerators are known, such as for burning fuels, supplying hot gaseous products of combustion for use in dehydration, some introducing waste tangentially through a tube or other suitable means into horizontally or vertically disposed chambers, and others having internal structures that are modified to promote greater combustion, among other forms and uses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,707,444 to Van Loon discloses a cyclone furnace for burning fine grained fuels that are entrained in a portion of the combustion medium which is introduced tangentially into a refractory-material lined chamber. The remaining part of the medium is introduced tangentially into the chamber through a second inlet, and liquid slag is discharged through an outlet that is tangential to the interior chamber wall in a direction opposite to the direction of helical movement of fuel particles.
U.S. Patent No. 3,179,150 to Arnold concerns a furnace for use in dehydration in which combustion is completed within a refractory-lined combustion chamber so that no flame will be communicated through a flue. Within the chamber, vortex currents of secondary air are opposed to currents of primary air and to burning gases traversing the cylindrical chamber circumferentially in the opposite sense of rotation from the vortex currents of secondary air. When the opposing currents meet at substantial velocities, the impact of the gases upon each other promotes agitation with consequent intermixing so as to result in completion of combustion before the gases resume motion toward the flue.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,054 to Monroe, Jr., a cyclonic incinerator having a start-up temperature of 1,600.degree. F. to 3,000.degree. F. is disclosed wherein the selected temperature is achieved through use of an auxiliary burner. Waste introduced tangentially through feeding means at one end of the chamber is caught up in the rapid cyclonic flow of hot gases in the chamber and is rapidly combusted. The waste can be propelled into the chamber by air or fuel, and rows of nozzles direct air tangentially into the combustion chamber wherein combustion preferably is started by an auxiliary burner axially positioned in one end of the chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,127 to Angus concerns a cyclone structure for use in controlling the flow of two fluid streams to create a localized inward radial flow and thus is remote from the purpose and features of the present invention.
It can readily be appreciated that these references, either singly or in combination, do not suggest or infer the cyclone furnace of the present invention which provides for, in the preferred embodiment, the combustion in situ of materials used for cleaning up oil spills while causing little pollution and leaving a residue of only a few inches of ashes. Reviewing the cited patents, in Van Loon, the combustion furnace is adapted to the burning of fine grained fuels, such as entrained granular fuel particles, the chamber is specifically contoured to accommodate and mix gases and as shown and taught could not accommodate waste materials, requires at least two tangential inlets and an outlet for liquid slag, and could not be easily manually transported, among other distinctions from the present invention. The device in Arnold also is unsuited for burning waste materials for virtually all of the reasons cited above in relation to Van Loon and, in addition, the refractory lined chamber is configured so that no flame will be communicated through the flue. The cyclonic incinerator in Monroe, Jr. has temperature requirements that alone distinguish it from the present invention and, in addition, requires rows of nozzles for directing air tangentially into the combustion chamber and an auxiliary burner axially positioned in one end of the chamber. As stated infra, the Angus device is configured to control the flow of two fluid streams so as to create a localized inward radial flow thereof.